Tensions grow between Hochul and police union
By Gwendolyn Craig
Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed a pension bill impacting more than 1,200 state employees, including environmental conservation officers and forest rangers, citing “substantial unbudgeted costs.” This is the fourth time she has vetoed the bill and the fifth time it’s been shot down overall.
The state Assembly and Senate budgeted funding this year, but Hochul’s executive spending plan and the final $237 billion budget did not include it.
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Most municipal police officers, state police and county sheriff’s deputies receive 50% of their final average salary after 20 years of service. The pension bill would have created parity for rangers, environmental conservation officers, regional state park police and State University of New York police who currently serve 25 years to get the same benefit.
The bill does not include Department of Corrections and Community Supervision or Office of Mental Health officers who also serve under a 25-year pension plan.
The latest bill called for a one-time contribution of $70.3 million for past service costs if it had been enacted this session. Hochul’s veto cited a past service cost of $66.7 million. It also estimated annual contributions increasing by $6.6 million ending March 31, 2025. The cost was expected to average about 3.9% of salary annually after that.
Vetoes
The Hochul administration directed the Explorer to the governor’s veto in response to its inquiry about the veto. The administration did not answer why Hochul did not include funding for the bill in her executive budget.
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The administration has said it has asked for alternatives from the police union, but so far, none have been offered.
The bill, first introduced in 2017 and vetoed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo once and Hochul now four times, has had bipartisan support from lawmakers. Budget concerns have been reasons for past vetoes, but Hochul has also vetoed it citing such changes should be accomplished during collective bargaining.
Because the benefit change involves amending the state’s Social Security and Retirement Law, the state Legislature must create legislation. That was the reading of Lee Adler, a labor lawyer and teacher at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, in an interview with the Explorer in May.
Sen. Peter Harckham, D-Peekskill, chair of the environmental conservation committee, said that the rangers and conservation officers “deserve the same retirement benefits as other statewide law enforcement professionals.”
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State Assemblyman Matthew Simpson, R-Lake George, called the veto “a disgrace” and Sen. Dan Stec, R-Queensbury, noted his disappointment.
“These hardworking officers are frequently expected to do more with less and deserve better than this treatment from the governor,” Stec said.
Union response
The Police Benevolent Association of New York State characterized the Democratic governor’s veto, issued Oct. 4, as “tyrannical” and a retaliation against its billboard campaign that disparages her.
The billboards, posted at the New York State Fair and on roadways in Albany, Buffalo and Long Island, have a photo of Hochul and read “Help Wanted” and “Our streets are less safe today. New Governor needed.”
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Matt Krug, an environmental conservation officer in the Adirondacks and a union representative, said the billboards were intended to draw attention to staffing shortages.
The Hochul administration has characterized the union’s campaign as deceitful and disrespectful to current law enforcement.
“We’ve been trying to draw attention to our staffing issues for quite some time,” Krug said. He pointed to his multiple appearances testifying at state budget hearings, and several meetings with the Hochul administration. “We’re basically getting gaslit.”
An expected 25-recruit class of forest rangers has drawn just nine now to the academy. The class for new environmental conservation officers, which was slated for 45, is down to 26, Krug said. The weak enrollments are a result of fewer candidates at large and academy dropouts.
The union has pushed for retirement parity as one way to attract more people. “We’re not competitive enough,” Krug said.
With upcoming retirements, Krug thinks the new class of environmental conservation officers will keep up with attrition. But numbers are already 25% below 1970s staffing levels, Krug said. The department has about 260 environmental conservation officers, 26 of whom patrol Adirondack Park counties.
The Old Forge area, Krug added, is one of the hardest patrol regions to fill positions and has several vacancies. Krug highlighted the mother bear and her two cubs recently euthanized in Old Forge due to conflicts with humans.
“We have one officer covering three counties over that way,” he said. “You cannot address the bear feeding complaints (with one officer), which manifested into those bears being euthanized.”
Top photo: DEC Forest Rangers reaching the bottom of the technical section of an ice climber rescue. Explorer file photo by Eric Teed
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